However, domestically they trail league leaders Hearts by eight points and Gerrard has issued another warning.

“I was quite clear and blunt in the pressafterwards,” he said.

“That's the way it is, we're at a big club and big clubs requires big players who step it up in big moments on big occasions.

“I thought our performance in general (against Aberdeen) was pretty strong but there wasn't enough quality in the final third and we got done by a classic sucker punch against the run of play. It was frustrating.